Velvet
by Star04
Summary: Basically, Lance thinking about the bariers in his life.


Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. I don't even own that disclaimer. *__* The song belongs to Seven and the Sun (or whoever owns their songs)  
  
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Lance walked into the house exhausted from eight strait hours of work. 'Whose bright idea was it for me to work to pay the bills? Oh, yeah. Mine.'  
  
  
  
"Where is everybody?" Lance asked as he walked into the house.  
  
"Hey! When did you get home?" he heard from the living room. He looked in and saw Todd and Fred, who were watching something on TV.  
  
Todd looked up and gave Lance a small smile.  
  
"Just now. Where's Pietro?"  
  
"Probably upstairs sulking, since we didn't let him repaint the walls pink." Fred answered with a shrug.  
  
"Uh huh," Lance answered. He was glad he missed that. Whenever Pietro got it into his head to do something it usually took all the patience in Lance's body to talk him out of it. Today, he had none. "Guys, I'm beat. I'm going upstairs. Don't come get me unless it's a matter of life and death. And I don't mean that the cable cut out again."  
  
He dragged himself upstairs and dropped onto his bed. He laid in silence for a few seconds before he rolled over and turning on the radio. The commercials just ended and they were about to play a new song. He recognized the song. They had played it on another station a few times, and if he remembered correctly, he liked it. He just didn't remember why.  
  
  
  
~Some people get lucky  
  
Born with a sliver spoon Other people got to work real hard A whole life paying dues One man got a big old house Fast car and swimming pool Another man got a big old wife Ten kids and one bathroom~  
  
Oh, yeah. Now he remembered. The song pretty much described his life. Here he was 18 years-old, and already supporting himself and three other teenage boys. He worked at a crummy job during the week, drive-threw window at Burger King, and an even worse one, bagging groceries at the supermarket, on weekends.  
  
All the while, idiots like Duncan Matthews spend small fortunes on the latest cars, equipment, and fashions. It wasn't even their money, either. Mommy and Daddy are only too willing to hash out money to keep their babies from being social rejects because they're wearing last week's fashions.  
  
~Sometimes We're just stuck Behind The velvet rope~  
  
The worst part was, he'd probably never get out of this life. His grades were suffering because he spent all the time he had for homework making sure that the others understood theirs. There was no way he was getting into college. They couldn't afford it, even if he did get accepted.  
  
~You gotta jump up so high Jump up jump over the rope You gotta jump up so high Jump up jump the rope~  
  
Lance had a foster mom, once, that told him that he could be anything he wanted. She had called him smart, funny, friendly. She'd called him sweet and caring. She'd called him mischievous and unpredictable, but she had made those sound like compliments, too. The entire time that Lance was living with her, he felt that he really could do anything, be anyone he chose to. He could really break any barrier that came between him and what he wanted. Then SS called and said that there was a family that was willing to take him in. He didn't have to live with a "single mother" anymore. It was "healthier" for him to live in a family environment, they'd told her when they came to take him away. Lance never believed them, and she barely did, but there was nothing she could do. No one else had ever made Lance feel that invincible again. There were days when he was convinced that he had made her up.  
  
~Some people get lucky Take a chance and strike it rich Some people well they bet it all and lose Ain't life a bitch One man's on the guest list Arrives in a limousine Another man got to on line Outside in the pouring rain~  
  
Lance really identified with the first half of the verse. He personally knew some people that had been just as badly off, if not worse than him. They had climbed up to the top, not by working, but by chance. Take Scott Summers for example. Lance was one of the few people that knew that the X- Men's "fearless leader" hadn't always live the boy-scout life that he did now. The only thing that differentiated Scott from Lance is that Scott found a mentor that actually cared whether he was happy or not.  
  
Lance sat on his bed and listened as the song finished. He was tired, and not just from the eight hours of labor he had put in or the screaming children that he had put up with. He was tired of his life. Tired of the responsibility. Tired of the pointlessness. Just Tired.  
  
Lance kicked off his shoes and curled up in his bed without bothering to take off his clothes. He lost track of how long he laid there. It could have been minutes, or hours. He just laid there and tried not to think about anything. Of course that meant that he thought about everything. He was so occupied by his thoughts that he didn't hear Pietro come in until he cleared his throat.  
  
"Huh? Oh, hi, Pietro."  
  
"Hey. Um, you ok. I checked in on you a few hours ago. You haven't moved."  
  
"I'm ok. A little tired."  
  
"Of what?"  
  
"Everything."  
  
"Hmm?" Pietro stood in the middle of Lance's room for all of five seconds when he started to grow impatient with the silence. He started to tap his foot and sigh. Most people would have sent him away, but Lance knew it was just his way of staying put long enough to finish whatever quest he was on. Pietro had a lot more patience than people gave him credit for, and he could easily outlast Lance in the contest of the wills. Lance decided it would just be easier to let the speedster in. Then, he'd either go away (hopefully) or help (unlikely). He motioned for Pietro to sit next to him on the bed.  
  
"Just thinking about how little control we have over our lives. First our mutations. Then all of us get abandoned in some way, shape or form. We can barely pay the bills, and I have no idea how we're gonna fix any of the stuff around here," Lance said. 'Not to mention what's gonna happen when we graduate. I can except that I can't go to college, but I gotta figure out how to send the three of you..well, two if Freddy doesn't want to go,' he added mentally.  
  
"Don't worry about it. We'll think of something. Hey! You write your college apps yet? I'll proof-read them if you want me to."  
  
"Thanks, Pete. But I don't think I'm going to."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Look around, Pietro. Do you really think that we can afford to send me to college. I'm having problems just finishing High School. Not to mention."  
  
Lance trailed off when Pietro put his finger to his lips.  
  
"Lance. Listen to me. Stop worrying so much about what we don't have. Focus on what we do. We've got something here that I haven't had since my s.for a very long time. We have a family. You, me, Todd, and Fred. We're a family. That's all you need to know. Love is the most important reason for living. And believe me, Lance. I think the four of us have plenty of reason." With that, Pietro got up and left.  
  
Lance sat there thinking about what Pietro had said. Suddenly, the last verse of the song came back to him. He usually ignored it, but now it made perfect sense.  
  
~We got the world on a string Wrapped around our fingers We got everything we need We don't need a thing There ain't no rope that can hold us Nothing keeps us down There ain't no rope that can bind us We're gonna jump up off the ground~  
  
Lance got up off his bed and went to his closet. There were very few things that he kept from his childhood. One of them was a picture that he kept of his foster mother, Sherry. He stared at the picture for a while before he replaced it in the box where he kept it. He made a solemn promise to her. He would not let things bind him again. 


End file.
